Health Justice Fellow 2021-2022 Cohort |
Wajeha H. Mahmoud, MS DMD Candidate Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine Wajeha Mahmoud is a Muslim Palestinian American who was born in Puerto Rico and raised in San Bernardino County, California. She is a first-generation college student and received her Bachelor’s in biology from the University of California, Riverside. She went on to earn her Master of Science at Western University of Health Sciences, and now is currently a dental student there. She is passionate about fighting for social and racial justice, health equity, and mentorship. While a student at UC riverside, she served as the Vice President of both Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Students Organize for Syria (SOS) where she was able to educate her campus community on the situation in these countries and raised funds to support Palestinian children in need for medical treatment and Syrian refugees respectively. Growing up as a first-generation college student, one of her biggest battles was believing that she belonged in the spaces she was in, and it drives her passion for mentorship. She is passionate about mentoring and empowering students to show them that they can be what they don’t see. She has worked as a STEM peer mentor throughout undergrad and is now the Co-Chair of the Health Career Ladder pipeline program at her university where she aims to introduce the dental profession to economically and educationally disadvantaged students. She hopes this fellowship will allow her to continue expressing herself through her passions, help her continue building upon and gain new skills relating to health policy research, and learn how she can contribute to the dental field and reduce the health disparities within it. |
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